“I almost remember

writing this one

I must have sent it in

and then forgotten”

“In my dream, there is a tiger in the water.

A flash of striped orange swimming slow circles in the murky pool at my feet…”

“Bring along a basket lined with embroidered cloth for collection and grandfather’s sharp knife for exploring beneath rotting logs…”

“The sounds of guns cocking made me pray for the first time in years. I prepared myself for the worst.”

“It is a story. It is life. It is consciousness. However, with all art and life, it grows, changes, and develops with each consciousness with which it comes into contact.”

“Like you taught us, I incubate my kin in the hairy half of the monster for a few days, till he purges us with syrups and steam…”

“I allow this darkness to engulf me even after becoming aware that I am—in fact—drowning.”

“I am standing in front of a stone staircase carved into a green semi-hill connecting two roads on the way to the metro station, and I am squinting upwards through the sunshine at a lizard leaping ahead…”

“There was a platypus leaning against a piano in the corner, talking to a black bear and a red fox. At least those guys were having fun.”

“If you finish eating in the next five minutes, I’ll let you have a piece of mochi!”

“Karen always told me how much she loved The Temptations, and we would watch reruns of their live performances in her one bedroom apartment that housed her, her parents, and her older sister. That apartment felt so big because of Karen, and I assumed it had to to fit her heart. “

“He spied her hidden amongst the creepers. A single curtain of light upon those golden petals - a single bud springs beauty amongst the decaying autumn.”

“I move the couch to investigate, and I find a tiny kitten with bright orange fur. I get immediately suspicious, because my parents don’t own a kitten, so I start looking around…”